In practicing for various sports using balls such as baseball, softball, golf, or the like, it is common to have a cage or enclosure to contain the balls to prevent danger to other persons, damage to property or lost balls during practice sessions. Such enclosures must be large enough to allow a person or persons to practice, yet preferably be portable enough to allow the structure to be easily and quickly moved from one place to another. Further, an easily expandable and collapsible enclosure that may be used inside a building as well as outside would have greater utility.
In the past, there have been many efforts to provide portable sporting cages. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,815,736 issued to Wright discloses a portable batting cage and method of assembling same. This cage requires several support arcs 14 to be raised separately, which are then held in place with stakes in the ground or special boots for use inside a building. The support arcs are held upright with tie lines 66, 68 which also must be staked down. Once the frame is in place, a netting must be placed over it. Assembling such a cage requires the time and effort of several people. Once the cage is in place, it cannot be moved or temporarily stored away without complete disassembly.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,370,385 issued to Joy discloses a portable batting cage. The cage can be assembled at a practice site, and includes wheels for moving the cage wherever needed. Once assembled, however, the cage is too large to be easily moved, even though it is mounted on wheels. Moving the structure would require disassembly which takes time. Also, the cage is not large enough to contain more than one person batting at a time. Most importantly, the cage does not fully enclose the participant.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,178,384 issued to Gorman, discloses a collapsible sports practice device. This device is portable, but requires a rigid structure such as a backstop or gym wall for support. Therefore, it is limited as to where it may be used. This device also does not fully enclose the participant.
Accordingly, what is needed is a portable, self-standing, generally fully enclosed sporting enclosure which requires minimal effort to install and remove, is large and long enough to be used for practice in games such as baseball, and may be used inside or outside of a building.